So, it's been a while.... The last two entries were way too positive I've realized, it's time to shower a little "Nangoality (Nango reality, I made it myself!)" on the one or two people reading this thing.
Sometimes, teaching ESL can be a disappointing experience. You've gotta be prepared to be teaching a lot of (sad but true) hopeless cases. And however much you may want to, it's absolutely imperative that you not cave into the students' miserable inattentiveness/rudeness. You have to persevere and try constantly to find a way to crack that shell so the students can finally start munching on the yoke of interest that's just got to be there (and IS there at the elementary level).
It's easy to become worried over Nango's future when you look at the students at the local middle school. At least half have zero interest in the majority of their subjects. I'm talking about worse than failing levels here. Like, not even answering a single question on their tests. Some of them refuse to say an English sentence, even during pair work, which leads to frustrating situations where gung-ho teammates end up crashing and burning too. If you're the sort of teacher who doesn't give a crap about your classes, well, then the situation is probably fine and you go back to your office and you quickly start to think about how to waste another fine day. But even if you have a shred of interest in language instruction, then finding a way to "fix" the problem becomes your priority. And the fact is, you cannot fix this beast. You can bake cakes for the beast, you can give the beast a manicure, you can shine the beast's shoes, you can even force the beast into having a 2-hour long bath, but even after all that, it's still going to be the same smelly and disgusting beast that it always was.
I've only got a half-assed undergraduate's degree in Psychology, but I have a *hunch* that the big issue for a lot of these kids is interest that is failing to be nurtured on two levels: a)there's very little enjoyment in the class, and b)they receive daily confirmation of their own inadequacies. I look at my struggles with kendo as being a good comparison to a young student, certainly not identical but comparable. Because we're both receiving instruction. Frankly, my interest in Kendo is, in theory, a whole lot higher than it is in practice. The reality of Kendo is: it's far away from my home (20 minute drive), difficult, smelly, chauvinistic, difficult, in Japanese, and difficult. Very, very difficult. All of those things make my interest go down, big time (part A of the BIG ISSUE). And it doesn't help that when I do go, the elderly Mr. Miyagi provides constant assurance that every single thing I'm doing is absolutely wrong (Part B of the BIG ISSUE). I think the first thing the senseis want me to learn isn't how to swing the sword correctly, but how to ignore that smelly old man (he's really smelly).
So gradually, Kendo becomes more and more of a chore and less and less like fun. And since it's extracurricular for me (unlike learning for Middle School students), you could bet a pretty large sum of money on the fact that Jonathan "Whiney-Pants" Slakey will soon end his kendo career. The frame of mind with which I approach kendo has received a thorough beating by a variety of interest-lowering factors. This Friday is my next kendo practice... will Jonathan attend? Only time will tell. Will the majority of these students break down completely, put their brains in an iron vault, and fail to learn English? It's already happening.
In the end though, it's all about your mindset. Are you the sort of person that takes all the dirt being shoveled in your eye and builds a gigantic, chocolaty-delicious cake out of it? Or do you go down for the count, call it quits, and stop caring. Chocolate cake construction is an important skill that just isn't getting taught often enough, is it?
Gotta make a lesson plan for my English Conversation Class, take it easy all.
Jonathan
Sometimes, teaching ESL can be a disappointing experience. You've gotta be prepared to be teaching a lot of (sad but true) hopeless cases. And however much you may want to, it's absolutely imperative that you not cave into the students' miserable inattentiveness/rudeness. You have to persevere and try constantly to find a way to crack that shell so the students can finally start munching on the yoke of interest that's just got to be there (and IS there at the elementary level).
It's easy to become worried over Nango's future when you look at the students at the local middle school. At least half have zero interest in the majority of their subjects. I'm talking about worse than failing levels here. Like, not even answering a single question on their tests. Some of them refuse to say an English sentence, even during pair work, which leads to frustrating situations where gung-ho teammates end up crashing and burning too. If you're the sort of teacher who doesn't give a crap about your classes, well, then the situation is probably fine and you go back to your office and you quickly start to think about how to waste another fine day. But even if you have a shred of interest in language instruction, then finding a way to "fix" the problem becomes your priority. And the fact is, you cannot fix this beast. You can bake cakes for the beast, you can give the beast a manicure, you can shine the beast's shoes, you can even force the beast into having a 2-hour long bath, but even after all that, it's still going to be the same smelly and disgusting beast that it always was.
I've only got a half-assed undergraduate's degree in Psychology, but I have a *hunch* that the big issue for a lot of these kids is interest that is failing to be nurtured on two levels: a)there's very little enjoyment in the class, and b)they receive daily confirmation of their own inadequacies. I look at my struggles with kendo as being a good comparison to a young student, certainly not identical but comparable. Because we're both receiving instruction. Frankly, my interest in Kendo is, in theory, a whole lot higher than it is in practice. The reality of Kendo is: it's far away from my home (20 minute drive), difficult, smelly, chauvinistic, difficult, in Japanese, and difficult. Very, very difficult. All of those things make my interest go down, big time (part A of the BIG ISSUE). And it doesn't help that when I do go, the elderly Mr. Miyagi provides constant assurance that every single thing I'm doing is absolutely wrong (Part B of the BIG ISSUE). I think the first thing the senseis want me to learn isn't how to swing the sword correctly, but how to ignore that smelly old man (he's really smelly).
So gradually, Kendo becomes more and more of a chore and less and less like fun. And since it's extracurricular for me (unlike learning for Middle School students), you could bet a pretty large sum of money on the fact that Jonathan "Whiney-Pants" Slakey will soon end his kendo career. The frame of mind with which I approach kendo has received a thorough beating by a variety of interest-lowering factors. This Friday is my next kendo practice... will Jonathan attend? Only time will tell. Will the majority of these students break down completely, put their brains in an iron vault, and fail to learn English? It's already happening.
In the end though, it's all about your mindset. Are you the sort of person that takes all the dirt being shoveled in your eye and builds a gigantic, chocolaty-delicious cake out of it? Or do you go down for the count, call it quits, and stop caring. Chocolate cake construction is an important skill that just isn't getting taught often enough, is it?
Gotta make a lesson plan for my English Conversation Class, take it easy all.
Jonathan
1 comment:
It makes you wonder how anybody gets to a point of mastery. How and why does someone persist (hiking, driving, cooking, driving some more) when the fun factor has evaporated somewhere back in the hiking step - it's a wonder.
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